Emma Johansson wins opening stage of Women’s Tour

Lizzie Armitstead misses out in bunch sprint as Friends Life Women's Tour kicks off

Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS) won the undulating opening stage of the Friends Life Women’s Tour in Northampton on Wednesday, beating Marianne Vos (Rabo-Liv) into second.

British rider Hannah Barnes (UnitedHealthcare) placed third to take the best young rider jersey.

Johansson becomes the first rider to pull on the Women’s Tour yellow leader’s jersey in this inaugural edition of the race.

The latter part part of the stage was marked by a solo attack by French road race champion Elise Delzenne (Specialized-lululemon) who pushed out a gap of 45 seconds following an attack 27 kilometres from the finish. She was reeled in as the race hit the final two kilometres, which gradually rose en route to the finish in Derngate.

Armitstead started her sprint with around 500m to go, and was swamped by a handful of riders shortly after. Johansson followed Vos, and just pipped her on the line.

Sharon Laws (UnitedHealthcare) takes the Strava Queen of the Mountains jersey after scooping up climbing points.

Television highlights of the stage will be broadcast from 9-10pm in ITV4.

On Thursday, the riders face the longest stage of the five-day race from Hinckley to Bedford, relatively flat day that should see a bunch sprint finish.